Between Google Goggles, Oculus Rift and Microsoft’s new HoloLens, we no longer need to look at a screen to view
computer programs, the Internet, or other applications.
According to a recent
article in the
New York Times, by the late media critic
David Carr, our
society seems to be embracing the technology trend of
becoming more engrossed with the virtual world than the
real one.

As the article asks, what is it about our
current world that we feel the need to augment or
improve it (or escape it) through technology? While our
parents or grandparents would tell us that television
would rot your brain, what would they think about our
obsession with our mobile phones, tablets, monitors and
television screens today?

The article refers to a
television series, Black Mirror, in which our physical
reality is affected by our virtual reality. In this
case, actual real world situations are created from the
manipulation of virtual realities. Is this really a
future that we want to experience? Or are we already
experiencing it to some degree?

In the future, will we
forgo actual vacations for a virtual vacation where we
can simply enjoy an alternate reality? Is Star Trek’s
Holograph the new cruise line? As we blend our current
life with our virtual lives, are we stepping away from
what makes us human?